With the new 5.0's putting down 400wheel,

[Vertnut]

My buddies factory stock 78 TA with a 6.5 (400)/auto ran a 15.02 @92 or 96 mph. It was fast back then. Now, not so much.

Funny story...my first new car was a '79 Z28. Stripped down with 4sp and factory 3.73's (turns out these are ultra rare now). Drove it home from Carter Chevrolet and dad and I took the catalytic converter off, drilled out the adjustment screws from the Quadra-junk, and bumped the timing. Ran it at several "grudge nights" at Green Valley and was good for 14.5/14.6 on Goodyear Polysteel radials. All with a factory rated 185hp. It ran pretty good to about 110, then just ran out of breath (and gear).

[Vertnut]

One of or family friends has been into mustangs, and hot riding them for years. He forged his fathers name in 65 to by his first one new. I asked him about this whole mess and he said that most of the"fast" cars back then weren't shit until you put a set of headers with dual exhaust, usually a better intake, carb and Cam in. Once that stuff was done, they weren't slow at all, especially the big block cars. The new cars of today are much better all around.

He has a bunch of classic mustangs (I think only one might actually run) but he showed me a set of heads that he worked up back in the later 60'a or early 70'a that had been ported, had some big ass Chevy valves stuffed in that look way to big for the hole. They didn't have a jegs they could open and buy a set of aluminm heads, so the real hot rods had grassroots mods in effort to try and get more power.

There were TRUE machinists' and machine shops that would actually fabricate the things you can now order on-line.

[OrangeChevyII]

The Internet has fucked up everything.